I cannot load Win 11 since auto update yesterday - goes straight to BIOS

Related to above.

With Intel RST turned Off, all four SSDs are now showing normally under NVMe Configuration.

We now need to know exactly what happens when you try to boot the existing Windows installation. Press F8 for the ASUS one-time boot menu and select Windows Boot Manager (Sabrent SB-RKT4P-1TB).

Please tell us exactly what happens after selecting it.

Also, boot the Windows 11 USB again. With RST now Off, does Windows Setup show the 1 TB Sabrent and its existing partitions?

If Windows Setup can see the drives, press Shift+F10, enter diskpart, then list disk and list vol, and post a photo of the results. Don't enter any other DiskPart commands.

Only in EZ mode does F8 show Windows Boot Manager but when you press enter it takes you straight back to the BIOS.
When I boot the Windows 11 USB drive it takes me straight back to the initial Windows Setup Select Language settings page after an initial reboot attempt.
When I try and install Windows 11 it still says searching for disks and then encounters an error.

ChatGPT:

Turning Intel RST off has done what we wanted — your four SSDs are now visible normally as NVMe drives. Don't change any more BIOS settings for now.

The error in your screenshot, 0x80042444 - 0x4002F, is occurring when the newer Windows Setup scans your disks. This has been reported when one of the attached drives is a dynamic/foreign disk, so the installation error may be a separate issue from the reason your existing Windows installation won't boot.

Please don't format, delete, clean or convert any disks.

Boot from the Windows USB, and at the first Setup screen press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt. Enter:

diskpart
list disk
list volume

Then post a clear photo of the results.

In particular, list disk will tell us whether any of the four drives are dynamic, and list volume will show the existing partitions. That should let us identify the Windows partition and EFI System Partition on the 1 TB Sabrent.

The fact that selecting Windows Boot Manager (Sabrent) immediately returns you to the BIOS suggests that we may need to repair the existing boot files, but I wouldn't do that until we've identified the partitions correctly.

Also, when the Windows USB reboots during Setup and takes you back to the language-selection page, that's because you're booting from the USB again. For now, though, don't continue with the fresh installation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all your help @Celery . Here’s the Command Prompt results.

Seanhunt said:

Hi,
Sorry for the delay. I’m still working on this issue I have with my PC. I finally managed to get the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver extracted and tried to install. It showed up in the Windows set up screen where you can install drivers. It got froze asking for disks. I assume it meant it needed a full Windows 11 ISO so I attempted to add that on a USB stick too.
It failed giving me the following error: Error code: 0x80042444 - 0x4002F .
I checked the current Intel RST driver installed in my BIOS and it hadn’t updated. The driver is greyed out saying for INTERNAL USE ONLY.

Click to expand...

You can temporarily disable VMD and switch to AHCI. Setup will detect the disk and allow you to repair Windows. After repair is successful, let it load Windows. You can switch back to VMD if you want, but you won't see any difference in performance. The disk is too fast to tell the difference, if any. I would leave it in AHCI mode.

Seanhunt said:

Here’s the Command Prompt results.

Click to expand...

ChatGPT:

That output has given us some important information. Don't try another Windows installation, and don't format, clean or convert any disks yet.

The Windows Setup error is probably being caused by Disk 1, which is shown as a Foreign dynamic disk. Error 0x80042444 means that a disk pack is offline/inaccessible, so that 4 TB dynamic disk would explain why Setup fails while searching for disks.

However, there is something more important to investigate first. Your C: volume is showing as RAW, and there are also hidden 100 MB and 860 MB volumes showing as RAW. Those sizes resemble the Windows, EFI and Recovery partitions, so we need to establish whether those are on your 1 TB Sabrent drive.

At the DiskPart prompt enter:

select volume 1
detail volume

Post a photo of the result.

Then enter:

exit
manage-bde -status

and post that result as well.

manage-bde will tell us whether BitLocker is involved and whether the Windows volume is locked. Microsoft documents that manage-bde -status reports the encryption and lock status of the volumes.

Don't run CHKDSK, FORMAT, CLEAN, CONVERT BASIC, or import the foreign disk at this point. Let's identify exactly which physical disk contains those RAW volumes first.

Click to expand...

Seanhunt said:

Thanks for all your help @Celery . Here’s the Command Prompt results.

Click to expand...

Now you need to execute the bcdboot command with the appropriate parameters to fix the boot record on the disk. Unfortunately I don't know what the appropriate parameters are. Anyone else?

spapakons said:

You can temporarily disable VMD and switch to AHCI.

Click to expand...

AHCI is principally the SATA controller interface; NVMe SSDs don't become AHCI devices when VMD is disabled. Disabling VMD causes the NVMe devices to be exposed directly rather than through Intel's VMD controller.

Here’s they are:

Celery said:

AHCI is principally the SATA controller interface; NVMe SSDs don't become AHCI devices when VMD is disabled. Disabling VMD causes the NVMe devices to be exposed directly rather than through Intel's VMD controller.

Click to expand...

Wrong terminology, my bad, but you get the point. Disabling VMD makes the disk visible in Setup.

I can’t add any more photos. Have I reached a daily quota?

Maybe not.

Switch off VMD, load Windows USB and select language and then click Repair to detect Windows and try to fix issues prevent booting. If that doesn't work, load Windows USB again, press SHIFT+F10 to open a Command Prompt and execute the appropriate command to copy to boot files from USB to your disk and make it bootable again. The command is bcdboot, but I don't know the correct parameters for a GPT disk.

ChatGPT:

That rules out BitLocker as the cause for the accessible 931 GB F: Main Storage volume.

There is still an important discrepancy we need to resolve before attempting any repair or reinstall:

Your BIOS detects two 1 TB NVMe SSDs:

• Sabrent SB-RKT4P-1TB
• Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB

But your earlier list disk output showed only one 931 GB physical disk. We need to find out which of those two SSDs Windows Setup is actually seeing.

Please open Command Prompt again and enter:

diskpart
rescan
list disk

If there is still only one 931 GB disk, enter:

select disk 3
detail disk
list partition

and post a photo of the results.

Do not format, clean, convert, import or delete anything.

If detail disk identifies Disk 3 as the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, then the important finding will be that Windows Setup is not seeing the Sabrent system SSD at all, even though the BIOS can see it. If Disk 3 is the Sabrent, we'll investigate why its Windows partitions are appearing as RAW.

Click to expand...

Samsung SSD EVO plus is an M.2 NVME drive and sits in a NVME interface. Unlike a SATA interface using Intel RST which has AHCI as an alternate backup. NVMe uses the high-bandwidth PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) bus

You have 2 options: Install Microsoft controller and driver or turn on Intel Storage Controller.

My question: I know Intel RST can be used in a raid setup but it can also be used in pass through mode, which I think is also called Raid 0 with only one drive. What was being used here and what were the drives or drive involved?

Pictures taken from my 2025 Asus Rog Strix with 2 Samsung SSD NVME 9100 Pro's.

Do you have those setting in your advanced mode?

I'm not using VMD as you can see I turned it off.

I'm not suggesting that you do that just want you to look for more options you may have missed.

Here is a summary of what the previous screenshots show:

NVME:
M.2_1: Sabrent SB-RKT4P-1TB (1000.2GB)
M.2_2: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (1000.2GB)
M.2_1 onto M.2 Card: CT4000P3PSSD8 (4000.7GB)
M.2_2 onto M.2 Card: CT4000P3PSSD8 (4000.7GB)

USB:
Samsung Flash Drive 1100 (64.1GB)

Intel Rapid Storage Technology is currently set to Off, so the NVMe drives are being exposed directly rather than through Intel RST/VMD.



"Windows installation encountered an unexpected error. Error code: 0x80042444 - 0x4002F"

The error occurs while Windows Setup is scanning the disks. 0x80042444 means that a disk pack containing a volume is inaccessible. One of the attached drives is a dynamic disk with a Foreign status, so this may be a separate problem from whatever originally prevented the existing Windows installation from booting.

When Intel RST is enabled, this Setup error does not appear, but the NVMe drives do not appear on the "Select location to install Windows 11" screen without the appropriate RST/VMD driver.




Disk 1 is a dynamic disk with a Foreign status and is a strong candidate for the Windows Setup error.

The C: volume is showing as RAW, and the hidden 100 MB and 860 MB volumes are also showing as RAW. Their sizes are consistent with partitions that could form part of a Windows installation, including an EFI System Partition and a Recovery partition, although their physical-disk association still needs to be established.

There is also an important discrepancy: the BIOS detects two 1 TB NVMe drives — the Sabrent and the Samsung — but list disk shows only one 931 GB physical disk.



@Seanhunt

What happens if you temporarily disconnect all the other NVMe drives, leaving only the Sabrent Windows drive connected? Does Windows boot, and if not, does the Sabrent then appear in Windows Setup?